Customer Reviews
Dirge-like, but high quality 
2008-07-28
Odd couple flick with an autistic woman and a man who never smiles, indeed, is the most morose man in the world. Great script, great soundtrack. I didn't believe the love interest between the man and the neighbor, but whatever. The ending is a bit dragged out, and the funeral is a tear-jerker, of course.
Quick ship - Perfect Condition 
2008-07-10
A wonderful movie. Weaver and Rickman are great together. I laughed and cried at the same time! Not your typical "touchy,feel good" movie. or "inspirational," but just plain GREAT. Weaver just gets better and better (and more beautiful). If you're looking for an "out of the ordinary" movie, this is it!!
Poignant, intelligent, thoughtful 2008-06-15
This is a beautiful film in every sense. Alan Rickman, who I adore not only as a fine actor, but as a gorgeous Brit, gives his usual superb performance. And Signourney Weaver is simply astounding. The entire cast, including the actresss playing Vivian who I look forward to seeing in bigger parts, is exceptional. Beautifully filmed, directed, edited, and acted -- take the time to watch this one.
Alan is superb 2008-06-03
Alan Rickman is one of the best and most subtle actors out there. He perfects every performance, no matter the movie. Snow Cake is no exception. The film itself is on the slow side, and truly, not much happens. But it works because of the magnificent performances. Sigourney Weaver is truly great in the role of a high functioning autistic woman and Carrie-Anne Moss gives a small but interesting performance as the woman that attracts Alan's attention. The scenes between them made me forget exactly how old Alan Rickman is. Just hot. This movie may not be for everyone because like I mentioned, it is very slow, but if you like watching brilliant acting and a film with a sweet message, you will surely like this film.
Splendid performances, so-so movie 
2008-04-21
With SNOW CAKE, the glass is half-empty and the glass is half-full. The full half first: Sigourney Weaver gives probably the best acting performance in her career up to now as Linda, a middle-age woman with autism whose daughter Vivienne is killed in a traffic accident and who deals with the aftermath in her own way. Alan Rickman is equally as good as Alex, a loner and the driver of the car in which Vivienne is killed. Alex attempts to pay his respects to Linda and what follows is the interaction of two closed-off souls unwittingly helping each other through what has hurt them, past (Alex) and present (Linda). When the movie is on the two of them together, it hits every right note you could ask for in a movie. Weaver is particularly adept at evoking an autistic person. Linda's character is another facet of autism, very different from the autistic man Dustin Hoffman plays in RAIN MAN, and as disagreeable and hard to like as Linda is much of the time, she also comes across as very aware of the world around her and how she can best cope with it.
Where the movie is less sucessful is on Alex's side of the story. While, as said, Alan Rickman does a wonderful job of conveying a broken man trying to become whole again, his character's background and motivations are never made clear enough. Eventually his story comes out in dribs and drabs, but somehow you don't care as much about it as you do about Linda and her immediate tragedy. There's also a romantic subplot between Alex and one of Linda's neighbors, Maggie (Carrie-Anne Moss) which feels both inexplicable and unnecessary, although Moss is quite good in her role. And things get wrapped up just a little too neatly at the end, as if the director and screenwriter felt the they HAD to have a resolution. But life doesn't end neatly; why does a movie have to?
Whether these are quibbles or major obstacles to one's enjoying the film is a subjective judgement, but I don't think anyone watching SNOW CAKE will get up from it feeling like their time was wasted. Overall, it's fine.
Quiet, powerful, unbelievably moving 2008-04-14
Sigourney Weaver Carrie-Anne Moss and Alan Rickman star in this film about what happens in the aftermath of a young woman's death. Recently released from prison Alex (Rickman) offers a ride to a hitchhiker only to have her killed instantly when their car endures a brutal accident. Alex then approaches the girl's mother and the events that unfold change his life and other around him dramatically. System Requirements:Run Time: 112 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 796019804806 Manufacturer No: 80480
thoughtful and thought-provoking 2008-04-03
"Snow Cake" starts off with a jolt of bitterly cruel irony, as a young hitchhiker, desperate to get home to her mother's, scans an Ontario diner to see which of its numerous patrons would be the "safest" person to ask for a ride. She quickly alights on Alex Hughes, a reserved, colorless, middle-aged Brit who's come to Canada on some undisclosed business and who seems to be covering up some deep dark secret from the rest of the world. Alex reluctantly agrees to take Vivienne with him, but before they can reach their destination, Vivienne is killed when the car they are riding in is sideswiped by a speeding semi. Wracked with guilt, Alex decides to visit Vivienne's mother, Linda, and apologize for his part in the girl's death. When he gets to the woman's home, he is shocked to discover that Linda is suffering from a case of autism so severe that she essentially lives in a world of her own, emotionally cut off from the people around her.
Lyrical and low-keyed, "Snow Cake" paints an intriguing portrait of a woman trapped inside a dysfunctional mind and of a man coping with the crushing burden of survivor's guilt. Yet, that is not the only problem Alex faces, for, despite the fact that he is in full control of his mental faculties, Alex is not all that far removed from Linda in his inability to make sense out of the world and to establish emotional connections with the people in his life. Alex carries his sadness around with him like a dark cloud, alerting all who meet him to the extreme unhappiness buried deep within his soul. Somehow, Alex and Linda establish a bizarre symbiotic relationship that few others in the movie can even begin to understand.
Angela Bell's debut screenplay boasts a fine blend of sadness, humor and warmth, and Marc Evans' artful, sensitive direction creates a richly melancholic tone throughout. Going far beyond the mannerisms of a mentally-challenged individual, Sigourney Weaver is poignant and touching as the woman cut off from the outside world, while the always wonderful Alan Rickman, with his hangdog expression and exasperated tone, conveys all the suppressed longing and world-weary resignation essential to his character. In addition, Carrie-Anne Moss makes her mark as a well-meaning neighbor who offers Alan more than the traditional tea and sympathy in his time there.
snowcake 2008-03-26
What a great film. Sigorney Weaver and Alan Rickman were incredible. I have a son who is blessed with high functioning autism and it always intrigues me as to what may the future be like for him. I enjoyed this film and would recommend it to anyone.
Kiss of Ice 2008-03-12
Welsh-born film director, Marc Evans, who has given us HOUSE OF AMERICA (1997), and RESURRECTION MAN (1998), stepped back from the Thriller/Horror genre, and was lured to the wilds of Wawa, Ontario--a small Canadian town of 4,000 that is lorded over by a huge statue of a snow goose, by a very sensitive script written by Angela Pell, and a powerhouse dream cast. SNOW CAKE is a film about pain, retribution, angst, revenge, inner demons, middle-aged angst and sex, disabilities, small town idiosyncrasies and politics, acceptance, and love--that can rear its beautiful mug in the dangdest places at the weirdest times.
The poster tagline was, "sometimes stopping is the most important part of the journey." An ex-convict, Alex (Alan Rickman) was on a road trip, a painful and emotional odyssey, to Winnipeg. He harbored dark secrets and stress, and we are not at first aware of the exact nature of his "crime". At a truck stop diner, the reserved and taciturn Alex met a loquacious, bubbly, sweet yet eccentric young woman--Vivienne (Emily Hampshire). Reluctantly, Alex offered her a ride to Wawa.
Tragically, just as they pulled out onto the highway they were T-boned by an 18 wheeler semi. Vivienne was killed, but Alex emerged without a scratch. Traumatized, he decided to contact the girl's mother to convey his condolences and regrets. When he met the mother, Linda (Sigourney Weaver), he was confronted with a middle-aged highly-functioning autistic woman. She seemed to beguile him with her lack of emotion, and she invited him to stay with her until Vivienne's funeral--so that he could, "take out the garbage on Tuesday. Vivienne always did that. I don't do garbage."
Alex did stay for several days, and he found a gentle way to co-exist with Linda's eccentricities, her obsession with cleanliness, her fascination with "sparkling" things, her need to jump often on her trampoline, her love of eating snow, and her need to keep all hands and feet out of her kitchen. Soon Alex met the attractive next-door neighbor, Maggie (Carrie-Anne Moss), and they made an attempt to "start" a relationship. Before the funeral, we discovered Alex's pain-ridden past, and why he railed so emotionally against the truck driver (Callum Keith Rennie)--we met Linda's wonderful parents, who had raised Vivienne, and we learned to appreciate the relative independence that Linda had carved out laboriously for her self.
Sigourney Weaver was astonishingly good, just excellent, as Linda. She had studied Autism, and somehow found a way to deglamorize herself, and be emerged completely in the tic-ridden, quirky yet likeable Linda. The writer Angela Pell, has an autistic son, and so understands the bumpy emotional terrain she wrote about. Alan Rickman of the dour smirk, quick wit, and carefully phrased speech, found a character in Alex that was flawed and still redeemable, middle-aged sexy, very capable of terrible anger, yet equally capable of growth, of an epiphany, who at the end of his journey in Wawa discovered some form of acceptance and patience. Carrie-Anne Moss presented us with a Maggie who was outspoken, an outsider in a small town, sexually emancipated, fiercely independent, well read, well versed, needy yet giving, warm and real, yet still vulnerable, and of course incredibly sensual. She took what was essentially a "nothing role", embraced it and breathed life into it.
SNOW CAKE like other Canadian winter dramas, reminiscent of Atom Egoyan's THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997), and Sarah Polley's AWAY FROM HER (2006), created a movie malleable microcosm of humanity and human nature--that touches us as it teaches, that provided a lively peek into the lives and hearts of several unique and "special" characters. It is a quiet film that nevertheless grips our shoulders firmly, a stern but patient tutor who had an interesting lesson to share.
The burdens of sorrow 2008-03-09
Portrayal of a sensitive man isn't often given to Alan Rickman, but he surpasses his usual image with mastery in this poignant story. The opening scene of him airborne imparts the persona well - yet he's only sitting there, not even looking out the window. Alex Hughes is a con, who "killed a man". He's accosted by a young woman in a diner claiming he "looks like he needs to talk", something he rejects. It's Northern Ontario in early winter - not the most attractive season but highly fitting. Vivienne is an aspiring writer wanting to know about people. She's cut off in that youth by a semi-truck who sends Alex's car flying into the snow. Beset by guilt, he wends his way to Wawa, an isolated community along the Transcanada Highway to confront Vivienne's mother with unneeded apologies.
Linda [Weaver] greets him with total indifference. Vivienne is gone and there's nothing more to be done. She's autistic, with many of the symptoms portrayed by an actress who's clearly researched the syndrome. Subject to obsessions, given to outbursts over what are mundane circumstances to the rest of us, Weaver performs impeccably in the role. "I don't do garbage", she says, urging him to stay to move the bins to the street on Tuesday. Reluctantly, he agrees, perceiving Linda's state requires no little compassion. She has nobody else to rely on, keeping her distance from her neighbours in town - especially Maggie - "she's a prostitute", says Linda.
There are neither lapses nor "hanging" scenes in this film. Every frame carries the message of a man beset by grief. The prison sentence was from his wreaking vengeance on the man who, while driving drunk, had struck Alex's son, killing him. Rickman carries this film throughout, Weaver, for all her abilities in portraying Linda, remains yet a foil to a man so riven by grief and guilt. Unlike Linda, who must be accommodated, Alex must endure a painful healing process. It has already been long and painful, and there's no assurance that even the meeting of his former wife in distant Winnipeg will relieve him of his woes. That situation keeps the film heavy, but the performances make it more than bearable, it's compelling. Carrie-Anne Moss brings a particular strength in a small town as a woman sexually driven, but is in no way hackneyed in her role as Maggie.
Throughout the film Rickman is the balance point of many forces, his own anguish, Linda's bizarre lapses into her own world and Maggie's need for a man she can respect. A post-accident confrontation with the truck driver brings a turning point - Alex, who has feelings in check is given the opportunity to vent them fully. Does he achieve release? Death, to him, is a very significant presence, yet Linda simply asserts that "We won't see Vivienne again", a more rational approach than being suffused by crippling sadness. All we come to believe about Alex is confronted by his departure "gift" to Linda, a masterful departure from the grim man we've come to know. The film could have been terribly hackneyed, but Marc Evans has managed a low-key masterpiece. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
